Think hard now…when was the last time you saw some valuable content on the web and decided to download?

You said to yourself, “Man, that looks like great information…just what I was looking for.”

Then you hit the download button and changed your mind because you had to give up your name & e-mail address. You thought, “The content looks great, but I don’t want to open myself up for more harassment.”

If you are like me, you harbored some lingering pangs of distrust towards the company that offered up the content…for “free”.

Research demonstrates that 90% of web-users will ignore the sign-up page for fear of getting peppered with more email. It seems the whole privacy/data collection issue is top-of-mind for consumers.

For those of you that follow this blog you know that I am a huge proponent of marketing automation platforms like HubSpot. All marketing automation platforms make their living…sort of speak…by exchanging personal data for “gated” content. Using forms to gather more information about an interested prospect has been the virtual foundation of most of these marketing automation platforms. Information gathered from forms is the currency many of these platforms promote as “lead generation” and the best way to cost-justify the additional expense of marketing automation.

Now, however, after much thought and research I am leaning towards ungating content as common practice…as I have done on my own page. (If you download some of my work…enjoy!)

We all know our parents had the best advice. As I baby boomer, I still recite my Father’s favorite axioms: “If you want something done, give it to the busiest people”, “The cheapest insurance you can buy are the best quality tires”, “The will to prepare comes before the will to succeed”…and of course the most time-honored quote of all:

Have you recently noticed when you search for a specific product, a specific restaurant, a specific recipe or a specific definition you often receive a “rich snippet” that gives you EXACTLY what you were looking for in a nicely formatted box? Some call these “featured snippets”, some call them “answer boxes”. As a techie would say, “I use structured data to create rich snippets on my webpages.”

You may have also noticed that voice searches are becoming more accurate than your first attempts a few years ago. For example, “Siri, where can I get the best car loan rate?” or “OK, Google, where can I get spare electric motors in Kalamazoo?”. If you have not tried this, go ahead and open your Android or Apple device and try it. (Personally, I like Google’s Assistant as they have a lot more data for artificial intelligence to glean from, resulting in more precise answers.)

Let us explore how you can gain a competitive advantage using rich snippets.

Let’s face it, there is a lot of fake everything out there…not just fake news. There is a ton of fake marketing. Lying marketers. Lying politicians. Unwanted robo calls. Pop-up ads on your phone you must fight through to get to content you really want to view. Many call it the Age of Distrust.

I saw a recent article at Market Watch that stated robocalls are the number one source of complaints at the Federal Trade Commission. And…as we all know many of those robocalls are scammers, not just aggressive, “legitimate” businesses breaking the law by ignoring the Do-Not-Call list.

Politics seems to be on the minds of many Americans. No matter your political stance, the behavior of our political leaders is disgusting. Clearly an absence of trust.

Face it, many marketers, many politicians, many salesmen, many others are out to bamboozle you.

Most Americans, and your customers, can recognize the filth. I believe Americans are pretty good at separating the truth from the bamboozlers.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that all industrial marketers are taking liberties with their sales and marketing tactics. But, I am saying that sales and marketing as an extension of our whole culture is filled with bamboozlers, opening opportunities for the “good guys” to trumpet a brand message of honesty & transparency and stand above their competitors.

In the final analysis…in an Age of Distrust…you only have one thing to sell and that is your company’s trust & transparency.

Enter the web & technology.

In the age of search, mobile, social, video and AI (artificial intelligence) trust & transparency is the foundational currency that will propel your industrial company to new heights and give your industrial company a competitive advantage.

I realize that to build trust you need more than a great web marketing strategy. You need great people, great products, great culture, etc.

We all know that building a culture of trust is extremely difficult. But in my mind, it is the foundation for growth in a changing, and increasingly distrustful, economy.

In today’s environment building a web strategy around trust is simply “table stakes”.

As everything in life, there are no easy short-cuts that will ensure quality leads land on your loading dock. Most everything in life worth achieving is a long-term effort.

So it is with content marketing & marketing automation for industrial

My customers and prospects often ask me the quickest way to generate leads using web-based tactics. I remind them there is NO QUICK WAY. However, there are two components that will offer a SURE WAY to improve your brand image, top-of-mind awareness and, ultimately leads.

YOU MUST HAVE A CONTENT MARKETING & MARKETING AUTOMATION EVANGELIST

Yep, a sure-fire evangelist that knows your industrial market. An evangelist that knows both traditional marketing as well as new media marketing. Why? Because as good as the web and new media can be, it is ALWAYS better integrating the old marketing tactics that work with the new stuff. (i.e. SEO, industrial content marketing, marketing automation, A/B testing, analytics, PPC, social marketing, etc., etc.)

Have you ever watched those TV shows where folks find old, dusty, ugly, items in the attic and then find they are worth thousands after being analyzed by an expert? Turns out the item was right under their nose for years. The recipients of good fortune often talk about the many times they wanted to take the item to the dump or rummage sale. Now, to their surprise, they have an extremely valuable item…still old, dusty and ugly.

You have proposed an aggressive online industrial content marketing plan for your company…yet, nothing has been done.

You notice that your competitors are spending more on online marketing. You notice that your most aggressive competitor has added many calls-to-actions (CTA) on many of their product pages to attract interested prospects. Further, you hear through the grape vine that your competitor has hired an agency to develop high-quality, downloadable content on their website. In fact, you have downloaded much of your competitor’s content using an anonymous name and your heart drops as you see the very kind of content that you have been advocating for years.

Next, you hear from your star salesman that he lost a sale to your competitor. Your salesman tells you, “I thought I had the sale, then my prospect told me they found a better solution on the web” Further, your star says, “They found some great content on the competitor’s website that explained how to install their product and that really made the sale easy for them and a lost the sale for us.”

Your heart drops to, yet, another floor.

The CEO hears the story and asks you to present your industrial content marketing presentation again. The same presentation you presented two years ago that was shelved.

This time you take the advice of one of your best friends, a CEO of a mid-size manufacturer. Your CEO friend says, “Calculate the ROI. It might be potential ROI, but if you back up your proposal with numbers that are real and documented, they will take the hook.”

Bear with me for a while and I will explain how the industrial marketer that embraces these two marketing tactics will benefit from a digital moat his competitors will find difficult to cross.

PILLAR PAGES FOR INDUSTRIAL

First, let’s discuss pillar pages for industrial and why they are so important to your online marketing effort.

Google, in their infinite wisdom, continues the goal of creating the best possible user experience for their customers. You have experienced it. Think about the results your searches rendered 5 years ago compared to the results you expect today. You simply get better information and it is quick. Amazingly quick.

Here’s how things are changing in the search world.

Google used to rank your pages using keywords. The results you enjoyed were sometimes relevant and sometimes not so good, depending how close your requested keyword was to actual answer you were looking for. Now Google ranks your webpages around topic-based content, not keywords.

As before, Google dictates how your content should be structured on your website.

When I first started Market Pipeline we could gather critical keywords from our clients, do some keyword research and strategically load those keywords into the webpages and botta bing…the webpage was ranked well.

Now the search for information is generated in a completely different manner. Now searchers are mobile, so results have to be returned in a smaller format. Now searchers ask the search engines as if they are talking to their best friend, “Siri, can you tell me who has the most inventory of Falk speed reducers?” “OK Google, where can I get my Baldor motor repaired?” (Of course, Google knows exactly where you are and renders the right answers based on your location).

Google continues to update their search algorithm to focus on understanding the specific intent of your search. At what location are you searching from? What exactly did you mean? Are there other related topics that you might be interested in? Can Google provide a quick snippet of information, rather than long page of search results, such as the one below.

Just 2 years ago, the CEO of Google said that 1 in 5 searches were on mobile and voice activated. That should be a red flag for all industrial marketers.

In other words, our marketing efforts no longer focus on company or product-specific keywords as we did 5 years ago. Now, Google wants us to focus on topic clusters built around pillar pages.

One the very sharp marketers at HubSpot, Sophia Bernazzani, boils down the concept of pillar pages:

“A pillar page is the basis on which a topic cluster is built. A pillar page covers all aspects of the topic on a single page, with room for more in-depth reporting in more detailed cluster blog posts that hyperlink back to the pillar page. Pillar pages broadly cover a particular topic, and cluster content should address a specific keyword related to that topic in-depth”.

Given Google’s methodology of using pillar pages and related back links: “Who supplies Falk speed reducers?”, “Where can I find a used speed reducer?” “I’m looking for new or used Falk 5DTC reducer”…Google has the opportunity to render the most appropriate answer using artificial intelligence in their algorithm.

So, after my brief explanation I would ask you, “Is your website built around pillar pages or keywords? Are your primary competitors’ websites built around pillar pages and topic clusters or keywords?

Chances are you answered negative in both instances. And, that is the first marketing tactic that can give you a significant competitive edge over your competitors as your younger audience becomes increasing dependent on the web for everything, including industrial sourcing

So…the good news is you can easily re-architect your website around pillar pages and benefit from more traffic and potential lead generation.

Based on what you already know about pillar pages, topic clusters and keywords, I am sure you realize most industrial marketers are far behind when it comes to leveraging the web for top-of-mind awareness and lead generation…whether using keywords or pillar pages…i.e. content (blog posts, e-books, spec pages, white papers, etc. )

For illustration purposes type into Google, “where can I get my Baldor motor repair”. Notice the lack of any company or topic consolidation in the return page. I know of several Baldor motor repair service centers in the Kalamazoo area and none are listed on the first page. Yes, several of the manufacturer’s webpages are listed, but the web user does not care about the specifications or the price. They want their Baldor motor fixed right now.

This is a perfect example of the lack of content for this specific search request…i.e. very low content saturation.

Now go to Google and type in, “who has the most inventory of Falk speed reducers”?…a typical request from someone needing multiple Falk speed reducers. Notice that www.mardustrial.com dominates the first page with the top 5 positions. Notice the URL addresses of each return. Google has rewarded Mar-Dustrial with top position, because they have given the web user the content they need.

In this case Mar-Dustrial create a pillar page (either by design or by accident) about “falk-speed-reducers” and with related topic clusters, such as “inventory” or “power transmission” linked to it.

Can you say “brand awareness”? How about, “lead generation”?

My point is this:

Most industrial companies are 10 years behind when leveraging the web for top-of-mind awareness and lead generation.

I predict the industrial companies that embrace the changing search landscape, pillar pages for industrial and a lack of content in their industrial sectors, will emerge with a significant digital moat around their business.

For more info on what The Repp Group can do for your industrial marketing & lead generation…CLICK BELOW